Excerpt from The Mentor, 1891, Vol. 1 So one Sunday his father (or mother) puts on his best Clothes, and sets forth to introduce his blind Child, arrayed in his college dress, at the hall, the parsonage, or at the house of a benevolent customer. These people are incredulous: they do not think a blind person capable of doing anything. For mere curiosity, they ask the poor suitor to sit down to the piano or the barmo nium; and he does so, trembling. He has not touched the keys for several weeks, nay, sometimes for several months. He is very nervous. His fingers are out of practice, his memory is rusty. However, he tries to compose himself, feeling that it is a solemn moment. He tries to play the piece which he performed at his last examination. It is often a piece not at all suited to such an audience More over, he plays it badly. What, then, is the impression pro duced? The patron is astonished that a blind man can do so much; but he thinks at the same time that it is merely curious, that he cannot employ the performer, and sends away the parents and their musician, with a few words of encouragement and a promise to think of him when an opportunity occurs. We know what that means. The Opportunity never comes. Time flies. The fingers not yet sufficiently supple become more and more clumsy. The moderate stock of knowledge fades away. Despondency and idle habits ensue. The blind man feels himself a burden to his family. Too Often they even take pains to make him feel it and, if he is too much trouble to his parents, they gradu ally drive him to go out and beg. Then all is over with him. Energy, acquired knowledge, everything, melt away. The blind man is ruined; and, even if some fortunate Circum stance some day enables him to find a Situation, he would no longer be either morally or intellectually fit to occupy it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.